High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #37 | Into Dangerous Lands (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

The party embark on a new journey out of Ashen Rest and across the beautiful Caldran landscape but find the area to be more dangerous than expected! _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add the Heroes of Altheya Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Terms and conditions apply. Visit mx.ca slash Business Platinum. Welcome to Arthaea the Dragon Empire. After defeating the haunted tree and recovering the remains of Tyria, Sister Ophelia completed the ritual to construct the Black Glass, a magical mirror which could be used to send Tyria's spirit to Osseus. As the party gathered, they spoke with Tyria one last time, and then Ophelia opened the portal to the Black Cathedral in the capital city of N'Kral. Waiting for her on the other side was High Deacon Mograine Gallows, a wraith inhabiting the body of a powerful

warrior. With Tyria's spirit passed over, and a gift of the Gravefather blessed upon Ophelia, it was time for the party to consider their next steps. They discussed which of the three quests had been presented by Dame Cassandra and Lady Emberissa, and which one they wanted to pursue. Unsure if a journey into the Ash Hills with its rumored Crown Steel corruption would be advisable with Xanthius in the team. Now, come on, bro. They traveled to speak with Lord Obsidius

about this matter and learned much information about Crown Steel and the Ash Hills. And now they have a few moments still in Ashton's Rest to decide before they begin their journey elsewhere. And that's where we're gonna pick up today. So I believe you just finished speaking with, oh, and apologies, Gruff shouted at a mailman. Oh yes, you did, yeah.

I thought it was Cully Fresh. Yes. That's fair enough, that's fair enough. Paranoia. That's who they were last time. Yeah, yeah. Paranoid Gruff yelled at a poor innocent courier. It still could be, I didn't figure it out,

because I couldn't grab them to see if the illusion, I still think they're, I don't know, Charlton. Charlton. With that, you guys are free. If you would like to, if there's more questions you have for Obsidius, you're obviously welcome to ask those, because we were at the end of the last session.

If you would like to go and talk to Lady Embarissa or anybody else in town, this is, I hand it over to you. Mm, is there anything else? Your time. We are, this is Tom speaking, Atlanteus. Is there anything else we might yet need for the journey? We have Hot Rod. Hot Rod.

Hot Rod is the most important. Did we get a wagon? We have a wagon. We have a wagon. We have, I forgot to put that in. 12, what was it, 12 days a feed? So we've got, I've just written down Lizard,

20 days feed, locks and keys, wagon, cooking rations, and five fatality potions. Oh yeah, we bought a ton of potions. You all put them down? Yes. I didn't, because I have one. I have two. Have we spent more money than the reward will give us?

No. Okay, good. Do you have a note of exactly how much people rations you have? 20 days. I just said cooking rations for 20 days. Okay, so we've got enough stuff. I'm just wondering if there's anything else we might need.

We have 1,720 gold left. Hell yeah. Yeah? I commissioned from the blacksmiths to attach a candle to... No, no, no, no, no, not a candle. A lantern. Oh yeah, a storm lantern.

A massive storm lantern to a helmet, which you may go and pick up. It is like a pot helm, so it's like a kind of squared top, like flat sides helmet. They had to make it a flat top because that's the only way to structurally get the letter off. It's like on top.

It's like a top hat with a lantern on it. Because he was a tall man. Because it's a cone, a lantern's a cone shape. Oh, we should have put the necromantic wood on there so that whoever's wearing it can see dead people. That'd be terrifying. I know. Ah.

But yeah. I just know how. You pick that up from the blacksmiths, you now have lantern helmet, whatever you want to put it down as. It is a lantern that you can wear on your head and does not require to be held. You can give it a name. Oh, it is a lantern that you can wear on your head and does not require to be held. You can give it a name.

Oh, it has a chin strap. So it straps under the chin as well. Leather strap under the chin. You could call it pyramid head. Siren head. Siren head. What kind of a helmet was it? It's like, so it's, it's, it's like a pot,

what they would call a pot hand, but it's got like a square top. So it's like a flattened top. So it almost looks like a hat with what they would call a pot hand, but it's got like a square top. So it's like a flattened top. So it almost looks like a hat with a chin strap underneath it, or like an old school rugby, one of those rugby helmets. But it's got like a flat top and then it has like a policeman's

sort of siren shaped lantern on the top. It's a cooking pot. If they'd stand you on the coast and get you to spin around, you'd be a lighthouse. Exactly, yes. Oh. It has the, so the side is where you turn it on and off. And you can open it up and, yeah.

Amazing. And that's that, what, five AC plus five AC? No. Huh, that's weird. Could you imagine? No. No. Zero, zero AC actually.

Zero AC, that's a shame. And also there was a threat. I remember. No, 60 foot radius. No? I remember there was also a threat of if someone hits you in the head, it's filled with oil. Yes. Oh yeah. And a flame.

So if anything, it's negative AC. If like it is engulfed in enough fire, it might explode. This seems like a bad idea. Because the oil's all in like a small area, right? So if the oil ignites, the pressure will build up and it will explode. It's okay, because it means that you'll be able to use a bow and area, right? So if the oil ignites, the pressure will build up and it will explode. But it's okay, because it means that you'll be able to use a bow and arrow, which you use all the time.

Obviously. Or your two swords, you know, when you do a wield. He uses his sword two-handed, actually. Oh yeah, the long sword, yeah. So fuck you! No! No! No!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. He said. Right, so you have that now, Rowan. You have lantern helmet. Well done. Or helmet lantern, whichever way you want to put it round. You made it, you name it.

I call it a siren head. Siren head. Siren head. It's not a siren, it's a lantern. I know I said siren head. When he puts it on, he goes, woo! Woo! That's just because it's so hot.

Oh, ah! Whoa! Whoa! Woo! Woo! Anyway, in terms of how I go and pick this up. Okay. Guys are gonna go, and I run out the door.

I come back 15 minutes later. Really proud. Just wearing it. Rowan, hi. The door creaks open. What do you think? Something looks different. Yeah, you think so, Xanthius?

I do. Well, I've noticed your... What a blinding, like, you know, 64 line. You should have warned me. I know. How much did that cost you? I can't remember. I was too excited.

And that's secure, that's held on there? Well. Whing. What's in there, is that? Careful. And it's hot! What is in there? Oil and a flame.

So you stay away from Rowan. It's lit currently as well, obviously. Stay away from Xanthius. Hold on. Well, you turn it off. I'm fine. Okay. That is terrifying.

It's still hot for a bit, my head hurts. What, what? It's like sweaty, your head wouldn't hurt, but it's like definitely sweaty. Is it hot in here? No, it's just you. Okay. What, what?

So. Good job. I had a moment where everything kind of came together, and I was like, I use this hand and this hand when I swing my sword, or I play sostenuto and... Yes, okay. I was like, sometimes I can't see. In the dark. When we're in the dark. So, I got a helmet which has light on it.

Did it need to be quite as tall? It's very tall. You are now huge. You already have to stoop under doorways and such. I was working with what they had in the store, so. I see the logic. I like the logic. Do you?

I see it. Not necessarily a fan of the execution, but the logic. Do you? I see it. Not necessarily a fan of the execution, but the logic. The logic is there. The logic is there. Now it is sound. Do you think it looks dumb? It does.

No, no, no. No, you're fitting just fine in Caldra. I have to run a book, okay, but maybe I shouldn't. Deception check, please. I'm gonna lie to him like that. Natural one. No. We've been ruined. I'm gonna lie to him like that. I want a natural one. No! Even Rowan. 14.

I'm like yelling no, but I'm nodding. Even Rowan knows. Xanthius doesn't think it looks cool. I'm just smiling. Oh, it looks good! Wow! I'm like, Xanthius, you're overdoing it, you're overdoing it. It was a very good idea.

And you know what, if we're in dark places, that's very important that we have lights. It's good, you can take it off though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Rowan, you can take it off, right? I'm gonna take it off. Okay.

We can all lie. Huh? Whoa. Okay. We can all lie. Huh? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

Whoa! Whoa! Oh! Whoa! Whoa! Zantius must be a real fucking dick if Rowan is like. It's taking you that long to realize this? Non-canonical.

That was non-canonical. That was Chris Trot leaking through. Yeah. No, it's a good idea. I mean, that's a good point actually. We do tend to travel in the dark, and that's quite a lot. Do we all actually have torches, lanterns, things by which to light the way? I can see in the dark. Yes, that's true.

I have my dagger and cast light on it. Yeah, I can produce flames and stuff. Gruff, how are you with the dark? I have several torches. Good, okay, good. Maybe don't light flames too near of the oil. Oh, no, no. Just... Yeah, that'll go.

I'll wipe some oil off my forehead. Is it leaking? No. That's all right, oil it before putting it on. I look behind you and the journey you took to get here, there's just like... So I've got a mop. Percy has one.

You need like a tail to sweep it all up behind you. Make sure Graff walks behind you. No. Wait, what are you reaching for? What are you doing? My trinket corner is useful. It's not, it's so much. I don't like that Mark is writing something down now as a result of that.

Chat, you can't see Rhiannon's trinket corner. But it's blurring. It's pretty good. Honestly, it's really good. Okay, well, I think we're pretty much ready to go. I'm comfortable with starting the journey as soon as we can, really. I just need to make sure that the shrine will be safe. with starting the journey as soon as we can, really. I just need to make sure that the shrine will be safe. Maybe I'll get Theresa, I think,

to just pop in every morning or so, just to make sure no one's been in riff raffled and rambled around. Oh, we also need to send the okay to the people renovating the house. That's there, I'll assume that that's done. Yeah, I think Theresa would be happy to, oh yes, I'd be more than happy to keep an eye on the shrine and the tavern as well. Oh yes, yes, Theresa would be happy to be like, oh yes, I'd be more than happy to keep an eye on the shrine

and the tavern as well. Oh yes, yes, that would be much appreciated. I'm not much of a guard, but I don't think there would be any trouble or anything like that. No, just to make sure everything's all spit, span, words. Oh yes, yes. You're an engineer, so you can tell if these boyos,

the builders, are having a laugh. Oh, well, yes, I suppose. I was more of a sort of illuminator. I guess I'm not really used to wood. I tend to work with metal, but I'll keep an eye on it. Yes, absolutely. Will Percival be staying? Theresa does not know about Percival as a skeleton.

She thinks Percival is a man, by the way. Oh, well he is. Well, yeah. Percival will be accompanying us. Oh, all right, all right. Well, I'll try and keep it clean and things like that. I see that he's always busy keeping everything clean and tidy. I'm sure it's just a dusting word. Don't worry too much. No, no, that's right.

I'll try and stop by once or twice a day, keep an eye on things. Thank you very much. Of course, yes. Well, I wish you all the best in your travels. Thank you. She kind of puts her little glasses up. Oh, yes, of course. Yes, I'd be delighted, yes. We'll tell you all about it. Of course, yes. Well, I wish you all the best in your travels. Thank you. She kind of puts her little glasses up.

Oh, yes, of course. Yes, I'd be delighted, yes. I'll tell you all about it when we get back. Oh, yes, please do. I'm excited to hear about it. Sister Ophelia, do you have any sort of books or scrolls or anything about the Gravefather and Osseus? It's very hard to find anything like that here.

I feel it will get into her, she'll rifle out a book, because she's been, well, part of the upgrade she'll be writing, but she has been writing little bits and pieces in her notebook in the back about the Gravefather, so she'll tear out a few pages in the back and give them to Theresa.

Oh, I just wanted, I didn't know if you had something that I could do some little reading on, just... I'm going to be working on a library once the house is all finished. Oh, right, OK. I can write scripture in there and make books and everything. But for now, here's what I've taken with me. I've written these to get you started. What's Ophelia's handwriting, right?

Beautiful. OK, beautiful. I would imagine it would be... Oh, this is wonderful, yes. I just wanted to see if I could learn a bit more. Obviously, in Orpheus, we don't have many books or writings Beautiful. Oh, okay, beautiful. I would imagine it would be wonderful. Oh, she's like, oh, this is wonderful, yes. I just wanted to see if I could learn a bit more. Obviously, in Arthaea, we don't have many books or writings about Osseous and the teachings,

so I wondered if you might have something like a prayer book, like we would have that normally, like things like that. Yes, well, yes, I'll be working on that hopefully very soon. Oh, good. So I'll bring you some more when they're done. Yes, all right, thank you.

Yes, I'll do some reading while I'm here. Lovely, let me know what you think. I will, I will, of course, yes. I'm so excited. And she'll happily, yeah, Theresa's more than happy to come by and just keep an eye on it. She owes you her life, so she's more than happy to come and keep an eye on the inn,

and she's very interested in the shrine with Ophelia and stuff as well. In a couple of weeks, we're gonna come back and she's just black and red. Yeah. Hell yeah. Little Ophelia doppelganger. Yeah. Well, you are leaving the inn now ghost free.

Like, the builders are not gonna have any issues, nobody's gonna have any problems coming here and stuff as well. Yeah, is there any other business in the town? Obviously, yeah, you can send word to construction. You can begin, you've paid for all of that, so it's all handled. Well, do we want to actively go to Emberissa

and say, hey, quest accept, or we just crack on? Just crack on. Send word. Send word. Yeah. Should we load up all the stuff onto... Leave a message with conspirator Orgrim.

Conspirator, yeah. The Steel Inquisitor Orgrim. Gah! Just spikes out of his eyes. It's a Brandon Sanserson reference for you all. Yeah, you could just go, you can deliver it, so you can pass messages, you can go up to the gate, and even if the Considerate's not there,

there's normally a Considerate or a Steward who will take messages for his Draconic Majesties, or their Draconic Majesties. So you can leave a message there that, what would this message entail? Is this basically, yo, we accept quests. See you later. Hover the cursor over the accept button.

Accept button, yeah. Sure. But no, I guess we don't actually fully, 100% know exactly where we're headed to, just towards the ash hills, right? Do we? Well, it will, no. There is no, so this quest, as a reminder for the audience as well,

you are basically taken on the job of trying to find Ser Eldrach Ignis, one of the three knights of the realms of North Vale, so one of Duke Ignaris' personal knights. They, all you know is that Lady Embarissa sent Ser Eldrach into the Ash Hills to recover something, a magical shield called Heart Warden. You, I'll let you, I'll rely on your notes beyond that.

Like if you've made any notes about any additional details, then obviously you can remember more stuff, but that's all I'm gonna kind of remind you of for this. So to answer that question is you don't really have like, we don't know an exact location to go to. And in fact we have a hex map of the region. And you are gonna have to use that and decide where you go and everything else.

Sorry, what's the shield called again? It's called Heart Warden. Heart Warden, that's what it's called. There may be a green dragon. The Mistwald. There could be an ally. There could be an ally that's in the Ash Hills attempting to replenish the land. Heal the land. What's that?

Is that Dame Vakara? It's green dragon. Dame Vakara is, Dame would be at night. Dame is like a Lady Knight title basically. So this would have been a non-dragon. Vakara would have been a non-dragon. Why do I have Dame Vakara would have been a non-dragon. Why do I have Dame of Chara written on it?

That's a great question. What shame your notes aren't more comprehensive. That's Gruff for you. Yeah. I write my notes. Exactly, he's like, I, I, I, well it also fits that he's like, I remember the name of the Lady Knight,

don't know what, why. Genuinely though, that I've been writing my notes, not as Nova, who would write down everything as Gruff remembers it and... Knight. Yeah, literally that. Knight. Yeah. Knight stuff.

There's a knight involved. Yeah. That's it. There's a series of caves. Caves, yep. We'd find an armour of her mother's companion was found in them. She wants an heirloom returned to her. Yeah. Um.

Relic of Enflaria. Yes. Yes, Lady Enflaria was Emberis's mother. Yeah. Okay. Duke Ignorius' love. I'll tell you what Gruff has written down. There is a personal connection between Emberis and Eldrake.

Turns out Gruff is a gossipy little bitch. Oh! Got that hot little gossip nugget he's in. So... You've learned all I heard. The Dragonborn Knight, he has a humanoid face and dark hair. The ash hills interfere with magic. Things don't grow well there.

There's some bodies of traitor dragons that may contain the Crownsteel, and there's a chance of bandits looking there as well. This is exactly the same as my notes here. Yeah, and mine too. He has a halberd. Okay. So Al-Draq willed a halberd, correct?

But in terms of our hex map, we are dead center here. We will need to head south easterly-ish across the river. We're gonna follow the river so that we can fish and stuff on route. Yes, yeah. The Ruby River. Each hex is one day of travel, is it? Yes. So, yep, so each plain hex, if it has any kind of,

if it has hills or forest or mountains or anything like that, it is a day and a half of travel. And there's also some other things you should know. So traveling on roads is generally easier, quicker, and less dangerous in a sense. But obviously you have to follow the road. When you get off the road, the type of terrain you're in obviously changes what kind of checks you might need to make and things like that as well. And yeah, what I will need is if we are at the stage

where you are ready to leave Actions Rest. Gladiator's ready. Ready. So I will need to ask the group to elect a leader for the journey. Well, I mean. I'm not gonna run it up, but I was gonna say Fate Dice. Oh yes, Fate Dice. Oh yeah, it's worth the journey. Well, I mean... I'm not gonna run the nut, but I was gonna say... Fake dice.

Oh yes, fake dice. Oh yeah, it's worth 300 points. Maybe the person with the highest fate Watch this. is the leader. Oh, are you kidding? I am not the leader. It's fine, you can choose what you want.

What? Oh! Oh! Eh? I guess he was leading. Literal hat boy, oh god! Hat boy. Hat boy!

Five, that is a dice for you. One, that's a dice for me. Uno. That's a dice for me. Six, dice for you. Three. That's a dice for me. I already rolled a three, that's a dice for me.

Oh, it's four and two. Is this what you imagined his hat to look like? Something similar to that, yes. Show the class. Oh. Yep. Is this what you imagine his hat to look like? Something similar to that, yes. Show the class. Oh, yep. It looks like a World War II helmet. For podcast listeners.

That. So, what does the leader... Well, the leader's responsibility will be to, the leader will have any final say on any decisions, if there is like a, you know, an unmade decision. And they also need to decide the route or path to take. Okay.

So I'm gonna ask you to plot out the journey you're taking first, and clearly mark it to me, I've got a copy of the map that I'm gonna ask you to draw the thing for me, and then I'm gonna, then checks and stuff will make, yeah, I've got a spare version of it, this is like my map. Okay. So the leader has to chart the route, basically.

And then we'll roll on the journey, and I've changed my mechanics for it ever so slightly. Wait, wait a fucking minute. What's up, what have you found? Shit, fucks. Hang on, he's about to change the game. God. This is gonna be revolutionary.

Oh my shit. You're hyping it quite a lot here. This is the moment, get ready to clip this bit. Oh my god. Here we go. What you got, Rowan? I am adept with cartography tools because I'm an archeologist.

You're proficient. I'm proficient with them. There you go. He remembered a character background bit. Poggies, whoa, whoa! Galaxy brain. Great. I wonder why that is.

Roman's so mysterious. You got something you wanna say there, lad? Hello, I love maps. Can I draw on the map? No, if you want to draw on the map, absolutely. Oh, just take that away. No, Kim, I have a spare map. Unless you're looking at it yourself.

I thought you were gonna say another one. No, I have a spare one. Like, unless you're looking at it yourself. I thought you were gonna say that one. No, I have a spare one, because that one was Tom set it all up so the camera could see it. Yeah. Rowan didn't. Yeah, that's cool. Oh, hey, carry on Rowan. Right.

Please stop touching it, I will punch. I'd like to see that. What's that like? I don't wanna do it. You're tapped by a mouse? I'll break my wrist. Oh my hard, Ed. Unless anyone is really good at looking at stuff outside,

I feel like I want to put myself forward. Okay. I'm willing to vote on it, but I know where to go and how to find things. And use maps. Okay, if you have a good idea of which direction we should, I mean, obviously, South, but... I mean...

There's a few things that I've picked up. Just wandering around. Okay. And, yes, you know, following the shadows of the trees, where the wind blows, sometimes the birds go in a certain direction, and, you know, it's hard to put into words, but I know what I'm welcome. I trust your instincts, as I think we can all agree

that I couldn't even make it back to Burnell from Kelskaaris. Very true. So I wouldn't trust my better judgment, and I was on the main road, and I still collapsed, so. You did look pretty lost, yes. I wouldn't trust my judgment on this one, so I'm willing to rely on you there, Rowan.

Well, it just means a lot, you know, putting some trust in Rowan. I think you're the right person for the job. Don't put the hat on. You don't need it right now. It's daytime. Take it off, okay? With that in mind, so in that case, if you're electing Rowan as the leader of the journey, Construct. I'm happy to be.

You are in Ashen's Rest. I would like you to draw me the route that you are taking to wherever you are planning to go. Now, as I said, you don't know exactly where in the Ashills this thing is, so it might be you get to your destination and then you have to explore around it, but I'd like you to draw the route

that you are planning to take. As a reminder for podcast listeners, this map is available on Patreon, Discord, and on the High Rollers Wiki. If you search for it, you will be able to find it. I will also describe the journey as it is. Yes, I know, yeah. But it will exist.

While they're sorting this out, I'll happily fill up Hot Rod with all of the cargo. Yeah, sure, I'm assuming that between the group of you, you would begin to load up the wagon with all your supplies and things like that. I'll take care of the goods. Yes, Rob. It's Chris Troia here.

The tiles, I know what I look like right now, it's because I'm tall. The tiles with rivers on them, they are passable terrain, yes? You can't cross them, but you can move through them, so as long as you're on the same side of this river, you can move through it. Very well. Okay, we begin here.

Oh, the Ruby River, that sounds promising. We're gonna go across the Ruby Bridge. Yes, across the Ruby Bridge. We're gonna follow it south along the Ruby River. You can draw me as a line, like from Ashen's Rest, like literally draw a full line the path that you're taking. So we're here right now, I believe. Then where?

We can show this in a minute. So, we follow the Ruby River south, we're gonna skirt north of the little mountainous region to the west of the Ashen Citadel, approach the Ashen Citadel from the west, and then head into the Ash Hills to the southeast directly. Okay. Okay, so through the Ashen Citadel.

Yes. I think so. I think we should. So the halfway point is we're gonna stop by the river to be able to forage. We're gonna use the river to forage, get some fishing with Gruuff, stock up. Pressure.

Yeah, there's also, you didn't mark it, but there is also, you have to take the hex south of Ashen Rest as well, so that's part of the gem. Okay, that counts, right? Yeah. So approximately one, two, three, four, five, six, seven days? Yeah, I tried to mitigate the hexes, but at the same time also hit some points.

Yeah, yeah. One, two, three, four and a half, five and a half, six, and then seven, six and a half, yeah, eight total. Because you've got terrain, you've got woods and a hill that you're moving through at some point as well. All right, okay. So you gather up everything. You have Rodri.

Who's a good boy? The large Thunder Beast. Just kind of chew in on some sort of, He's eating. He's eating. You know, some veggie matter from one of his feed, like just as he's been hooked up to the wagon. Everything is set.

You've got the locks on the side to put things like storage and things like that. I will need, at some point, you can do it, I can give you a piece of paper, just to write down exactly what equipment is going in the wagon. Okay. You could write it on the back of Rodri's card

if you would like. I have given you Rodri's stats, Kim currently has Rodri's stats. He's got some containers on the outside of the... On the wagon. On the wagon. Yes, not on Rodger, but I will put, whatever is on Rodger's card is on the wagon.

And then there's an interior. So it's a covered wagon, so it's just like, four people at a squeeze. Like you are literally rolled up like little sausages next to each other, you can't move. Can we all just sit in it? There is seating, so like you can sit inside as well. But all of us can sit in the train.

There are windows, but they're shuttered windows, so at night you can shut them, or if there's rain. There's also a little window that connects to the driver's seat. Two people can ride on the wagon. It does move slowly, it moves at 30 feet, it can't run or anything like that. Rogerie just moves at a slow, dedicated pace.

Which is what you would be moving at unless you were in a hurry, basically. And can we hasten him if we need to? Only if in a chase, and even then his stamina's gonna drop real quick. This is not like a purebred racehorse. He's very dangerous over short distances. But he can just keep pushing on at regular speed.

Regular, he just moves on, he'll just plod away. With a wagon, like that means that like, you know, you can eat things like, you can eat meals, like, you know, and not have to stop too much and stuff like that. And short rest and stuff, I guess, right? Yeah, in theory, yeah. Cool. So, obviously for a full rest, you will need to,

you know, stop. Yeah. Cool. So, with that then, Very nice. What a setup. I will take it that that is the sign of you are already. Okay, I feel like I forgot something. Did we leave some lanterns lit in the tavern? No, just that one on your head, but maybe I left some money behind. I'm so nervous leaving a place for the first time.

Have we got everything? Have we got the food? I think we've got everything. Just double check. Do you want me to double check for you? Please double check. I'll do a triple double check for you? Please double check. I'll do a triple check after that. Okay. And then you can quadruple check after that. I don't know about a quadruple.

I think that'd be too much. We'll see you in the moment. We'll see you in the moment. We'll see you in the moment. I think I've got everything. Gruff's just stood next to Rodri, just like huffing and sighing. Just like wanting to get on, you know,

if he had car keys, he'd be jangling them, you know. Come on, we've got to get moving. We're not going to be there. We're going to be late if we're not leaving. It's going to be really busy if we don't go services station. You're like, it's going to be a nightmare. Stop a service station. Tom is a nightmare for services, by the way.

En route to the fucking life, show stops off to buy Pokemon cards. Hey, well bro, hang on, bro. All right, and Rhiannon, I will mix the two of you in. I don't know why I got Target for that one. She bought them first, I bought them in response. This is photo evidence of you. There is photo evidence of me.

And for reference, they were all shitters. Right. I won good one. With that then, you make your way out of the south gate of Ashenrest, the tall town walls, the towers that were once a symbol of danger as they were part of the plot of the lamplighters, begin to drift into the distance as rolling green hills, it is spring.

Let us see what kind of day it is. Ah, everyone say bye house. Bye house. Bye house. I miss it already. Hey Lana. Yeah but when we come back it's gonna be beautiful. You are in the late spring.

Oh lovely. And so as you begin to journey, you see the very verdant, enriched soil of caldra lends itself to sloped vineyards and great fields of crops and vegetables. You begin to bypass little farms here and there, the occasional little roadside stop off point and things like that. And as the afternoon goes on,

there is a heavy rain that begins to fall down. Perhaps one of the last showers of the late spring as these heavy, heavy droplets and dark clouds cover the sky. What is everybody, what kind of things do you think these heavy, heavy droplets and dark clouds cover the sky. What is everybody, what kind of things do you think you would all be doing on this journey? Not just today, but throughout the journey. What is kind of your typical day of travel

for each of your characters? Like what kind of responsibilities take on? What kind of activities do you do? I think Groff would definitely be fussing on Rodri and just looking after him, like making sure he's fed, kind of giving him, you know, cleaning him down at the end of the day, you know, taking the saddle off so he can graze at night. Just making sure, you know, he's good and good to go. So just looking after him and driving the wagon, it sounds like?

Yeah, probably, yeah. Okay. All right. I think there'd be a restlessness a little bit to Xanthius. Like, he hasn't traveled too much, but he doesn't like to be sat just in the wagon for the entire journey. Like, the bumping would be enough to annoy him just a little bit, so he like gets out

and just walks alongside it, like almost just stretching out constantly, like, come on, looking in the distance. There's a target over there, it's not getting any bigger. And just waiting and praying for the time to pass. But yeah, just some sort of restlessness, I suppose. But keeping your eye on the horizon, it sounds like, kind of looking forward, looking to what is to come.

Yeah, I mean, I'm almost expectant of, like, if we go past a particularly, like, forested area or something like that, mean, I'm almost expectant of like, if we go past a particularly like, forested area or something like that. Like, I'm still keeping an eye, I know my perception is garbage, but I'm still concerned about- Just asking about your characters too. Yeah, I'm just concerned about like the-

Well, we know that gnolls and stuff like that and bounties are around. And we do have a couple of bounties for those, so yeah. It's happened before, it'll probably happen again, but I'll keep an eye out just in case, a nervousness to the journey. Yeah, makes sense, like yeah, well, you know, if you're restless and nervous, you would be looking at what else is out there, like, you know,

not interested in, say, the animals or the slow progression. Well, just impatience. Yeah, okay, all right, what about Ophelia? I think Ophelia would be excited. Like new possibilities on the horizon, like new adventures to have. But there'd be a tad anxiety, I think, just on where her next meal's gonna come from.

I think she'll be watching for the wildlife, seeing what animals are around that she could possibly feast on. But yeah, I think she's quite positive for the most part. Just sort of pottering around, watching the hills roll by. Okay. All right. How about Daisy? Probably sitting up top with Gruff, but watching, like, looking at the nature and the wildlife

and doing some drawings and stuff. Pretty chill, I think. And she would probably, while Gruff feeds Rodrian, takes care of it, just be fussing him instead. I think Gruff as well will be endlessly telling Daisy about, like, I don't know, how to look after, like, because he's become an instant expert on this, you know, he's not necessarily, but he's like,

you know, he's, I think, just having, like, an animal to look after again, like, Serenir, like, he's become an instant expert on this, you know. He's not a messmaker. But he's like, you know, he's, I think, just having, like, an animal to look after again, like, Seren and Iroh, like, he's... I think that it would have been very common, even in Iceheart, for there to be, like, local community animals, that, like, everybody has a shared responsibility for. Like, in Iceheart, everybody shares the work, it's all very communal. So there would have been, not thunder lizards, but, like, furry, suited to the cold weather, like snow yaks.

A shittily little mammoth. Yeah, like a little mini mammoth and things like that, like smaller scale, but they would have had pack animals like bison and like wooly mammoths, basically, mammoth milk and things like that. So yeah, you've been around these animals. Animal husbandry is not an unfamiliar thing to Gruff, so. Yeah, and I think, yeah, just having a little animal

to look after again, like, you know, not having Seren and Iroh, like, he would just be, yeah, talking Daisy's ear off about how to look after Roger and what to look for, you know, just, you know. Sure. Cool. And then, what about Rowan? Rowan will be enjoying the walk

because he's quite a nomad anyway. He likes to roam, so he's positive. He'll probably sing a song now and again, just to do a little bit of a moral boost, morale boost. But also he'll be like, mm, mm, and he'll run up to like some sticks and stuff and, yeah, mm, yes. What is it Rowan, are we there yet?

This stick smells so good. What really? Oh, oh that smells like. Yeah I think some sort of animal may have peed on it. Yeah no it definitely did. Why did you give that to me? What do you mean? There's so much you can learn from the sense of nature.

Oh yeah, animals, they piss here. Yes so there might be a resting spot nearby. Okay, okay, okay. I'm going over there now. As you make this journey, the rain, drifting and falling, it is not long before you begin to see on the horizon the twisting serpentine form of the Ruby River. One of the famous rivers of Caldor.

It runs all the way from the fangs of the empress all the way through the valley. Calderet is made of many different smaller valleys, but it also is a province, it forms one great valley in between the Obsidian Mountains, the fangs of the empress, and the Crimson Peaks. And the river sort of winds its way through, eventually passing through Feros and Emberford

and many of these other places. You see barges slowly drifting up and down it, either being pushed by great poles against the current or going with the current just lazily drifting their way down. You see fishermen on the shores, trying to, hoping for some river fish, perhaps for their dinner or to sell at a market.

You even see panhandlers. The Ruby River is so cold because very often it brings riches, it brings metals, even gemstones will pass through. And so you see where they get to the sort of lowest parts of the river, they'll be there with great nets and sort of these great mesh-like devices sifting the sands of the riverbed, trying to see if they can catch anything of value

in that particular area. So is this still a well sort of, I mean obviously we're not super far from the area. You are just outside of Ashenrest. But it's still quite a very well maintained, the road itself is. You're following the Imperial Highway currently. So yeah, this is not a problem at all.

The way I'm doing these mechanics, I'm still using my Journey rules, but I've changed it a little bit. I've assigned you roles based on the answers you told me. Oh no, I'm sorry guys. No, no, no, no, no. I want to do that because I think it's better to ask you what your character's doing

and then give a role based on that. It also makes it more interesting when and if certain things happen. Now Rowan, you are the leader ask you what your character's doing, and then give a roll based on that. It also makes it more interesting when and if certain things happen. Now, Rowan, you are the leader, and you were sort of initially guiding this, so you are gonna be the first one to make. I need you to make a survival check

to see how the journey goes. You got your magic toad ball. What's it saying? It's always on the partition, so I don't know. Survival. Survival, please. 13 plus, like a million, so it's all good. Great.

Plus seven. Seven. And 20. 20, yeah, you are currently in an easy region. You know, you're on a main road, you're on grasslands. It's not particularly difficult. This is road. Sam, just hold this.

What is that? I'll just give him some dirt. Oh, lovely. Animal, what is this? Just hold onto that for a second, please. Okay, yes. Oh, yep. I made him hold that.

Is this not important? For no reason. Oh, and it's just like road. I'm trying to help you out. Just road things. Oh, road things. That was great. Good, good.

Wipe it off your arm. Yeah, so as you're going about this, the first night comes and goes. No issue, don't encounter anything on the road. I would like you to mark off one ration per person if you are going to eat rations. Or you can try and forage. What are all three?

Or you can try and forage. We could begin when we get close to the river, I think. Like wake up in the mornings and doing a bit of fishing. Like me and Gruff or something. I mean, you are close enough to the river. Like these next three days, you will be close enough to the river that you can easily fish each day if you wanted to. Gru mean, you are close enough to the river, like these next three days, you will be close enough to the river that you can easily fish each day if you wanted to.

Gruff, can we wake up in the morning and get some fish and I'll make fish stew? That sounds positively delightful. Yes, I'll bring my hat, just in case it's too dark. We don't, no, we don't need that. We'll disturb the fish and let you know. Good point. Okay. Yeah.

So, for the first night, you're not gonna fish though, you're just gonna eat your rations. Have some rations. So if you can mark off one ration per person. So five, what? There'll be five for you, because you're not traveling. Percival doesn't need food, luckily.

Does Rotary need one of the animal feed? He's got separate feed, yeah. He does have separate feed. No, right now you're in grasslands, so when you camp you can just leave him to graze. Oh, cool, all right. So if he's ever in an area of grasslands or vegetation, he can just munch away and graze.

Sweet. If you get to areas where you can't do that, then you're gonna need the feed. For the group information, I have put Rogerly's feed and our feed on the wagon. Great. You can debate whether this is a wise idea or a terrible idea.

I think I should carry all of it at once. I feel like we should probably split. I mean, it's quite a lot of food, things like tents and stuff like that. We could probably put a couple of days worth each in our own pouches. Just wondering if we should. Just tell me how you would like to divide it

and I will make a note of it. Maybe one day's individual, like everyone has one individual. Emergency day ration. In case we split off for whatever reason. You've got some food on you. Yeah. It comes to the evening.

You begin to set up camp. You have the wagon. I believe that everybody but one of you, well, actually no, because you have Percival as well, but Percival obviously doesn't need to sleep. But you know, it's up to whether or if he wants him out in the cold and wet the whole time. But you begin to make camp.

You can choose who's sleeping where. But Gruff, as you were kind of looking over after Rodri, and like making sure you were checking on all the supplies and the rations, you have a choice. As the court master, which is what I assigned you for your role, you can choose, you can make an ability check to try and improve the conditions of your camp. So this is setting a lovely fire, making a nice meal,

making sure that like all the bedding is properly, you know, dried and stored and everything else, because it has been raining. So, but it is a choice, you don't have to do it, but it is a survival check, or whatever other ability check you feel is appropriate. So if you were cooking, for example, it would be using cooking tools,

or if it was setting a fire, it's a survival check. I'm going to do a survival check. Sure. Because I have plus seven on that. Alrighty. 18 plus seven. 18 plus seven. 18 plus seven. Yeah, I think-

It is the Ritz-Culton up in here. You set a lovely campfire going. You know, you make sure that all the bedrolls and like things like that are all well and dried. You've made sure that the shutters on the wagon are sealed and so that there's no rain that's gotten inside and things like that. And yeah, you make the camp improving its quality to fine.

Nice. As you are carrying the wagon and stuff, you have that to rest in. All our stuff was new with tags, we had to take out all that plastic. Rowan, you have a tent, don't you? I do, I have a two-bed tent. So you can sleep outside and with the fire there

to warm it up. It's chilly, but it's not cold. It's like a late spring, it's getting warm in the days, but at night the temperature just drops a little bit. Rowan, as one of the things you were describing was that you were singing and playing music, I've put you down as morale, which means can you make a performance

or a persuasion check for me, please? Something can. Plus five. 17. 17, please. Something can. Plus five. Huh! 17. 17, yeah. With that, you, you know, throughout the day, Rowan has been playing music, singing songs, just keeping the mood and the spirits of all of you

as you travel uplifted and even sat around the fire. Maybe you, you know, play a few notes on Sosinento and just add to the atmosphere, making the weariness of this journey a little bit less as the stamina cost is all reduced. Rowan is so upbeat as well. Like it's a palpable excitement of like, this is the life, everybody.

Like you could really just smell everything and touch everything and nature's all around us. We're not surrounded by walls or houses or people, just us and nature. It's a lot more calm and peaceful out here. I've missed it. Lovely. I feel like I've been describing myself like a Zoomer kid.

I need subway surfers or something. My mind, my brain rot. I need something.ers or something, my mind, my brain rot. I need something. You need an iPad. iPad kit. Yeah. Thanks to Rowan's excellent skills as a navigator

and as a guide, the group of you progressed this way for three days following the Ruby River. You have to, if you could please mark off two more rations per person, unless you were gonna forage, like you said, you did say you wanted to try foraging. One, two, one. You want a forage with us?

Forage on your own. Yeah, what kind of foraging are you talking about? Forage, red beet forage. Yeah. Yeah, no, we're not doing that. Yeah, sure. I mean, well. Those of you, so anybody who wants to try

things like fishing or hunting or gathering mushrooms and things like that, you can either do survival, nature, or like fisherman's proficiency and stuff like that. You have the fisherman background, don't you? Yeah, so I think I have a background. So I believe you have a special thing where you just roll and you catch that many fish or something. Oh yeah.

I have Harvest the Water. I gain advantage on ability checks for fishing. You can maintain, oh I can, so if you're near water, you can maintain a moderate lifestyle while working as a fisher and you can catch enough food to feed yourself and up to 10 other people each day.

Oh that's, wow. So advantage on a. Wow, so 10 people. Yep. So does that mean you could reasonably do like two days worth of food in one day then? Potentially. I rolled a 15 on the Survival. Yep. So does that mean you could reasonably do like two days worth of food in one day then? Potentially. I rolled a 15 on the survival to forage.

Probably Daisy's using like foraging for mushroom stuff. Yeah, to add stuff to the meal and stuff. I will. Because like it's fine to catch fish which will keep you sustained, but it's not gonna make the nicest meal if you don't have like herbs and veggies and stuff.

I don't know what you mean. Just eat a raw fish. Well raw fish you're like, could I find any much? It's just a if you don't have herbs and veggies and stuff. I don't know what you mean. Just eat a raw fish. Raw fish, you're like, good on fire, I don't need much. It's just a fish, it's fresh, it's beautiful. Have that for 12 days in a row. Gruff is perfectly happy with that. I'm sure Gruff will be. These pampered children, city folk.

So Daisy, success. You managed to go and gather, be like wild mushrooms, maybe some wild radishes and ground vegetables and berries and things like that as well. Rowan, what did we do? 20. 20. The same thing for you.

I go fishing with Gruff. Yeah, between you and Gruff, you catch enough that for these two days, you don't need to mark off any already bought rations. You have plenty of food, and you can choose the next time you have a camp, whether you want to try and cook those, that food, those fresh ingredients and something, but you have enough to sustain yourselves, right?

I rolled a 22 on survival as well. 22, perfect. For you, I don't even think we need to roll. If it's fishing, you don't need to roll because you can just fish, you just catch it. Ophelia. I got a 10 on nature. 10 on nature.

You managed to probably catch like a single hair, like a rabbit, like you know, you trying, I don't know how, how would Ophelia hunt? Cause you don't have like traps and things like that on you. She'd probably be like an ambush hunter. And just wait and then like magic spell it or something like that.

Yeah, she'd probably just like, Chill touch. She'd probably have a spider climb in a tree, like wait in a tree, upside down. Yeah, she'd probably just like... Chill touch. She'd probably have a spider climb in a tree, like weight in a tree. Upside down. Yeah, just bah! Slash out with veracity or like with... Yeah, spell it.

I'm gonna say it's enough to sustain like any bloodthirst for a day. A day, okay. So by the second day you are starting to crave it quite heavily, because I'm not gonna roll for each day. We're gonna roll in chunks of time based on your rolls. Sorry, what type of creatures? Does Ophelia get like a...

A hair. Okay. Is there a certain amount where it gets unbearable for her to have like... Maybe. Or do we just not know that yet? You don't know that yet. Is there like a threshold?

I don't even think Ophelia knows that yet. Not got that hard point yet. Mark knows. Yes. Mark knows. So yeah, for three days, which I believe brings you to just before the hills, west of the Ashen Citadel. Because you do have to count the square

directly out after Ashen's Rest. So one, two, three. I rolled like piss, by the way. I did nothing for that survival check. No, I assumed so. What do you mean you assumed so? So yeah, you were just before the hill. So right on the Ruby River.

Yeah, it's like one, yeah, well that's one, that's two, and that's three, yeah. Yep. Can you, Rowan, so after three days, because you rolled so well on your navigation, that means that you encounter a travel event or after three days, right? So the way it works is that,

normally if you succeed that check, every two days you roll a D20 to see if an event happens. One of those results is nothing happens. Because you rolled so well, you get an extra20 to see if an event happens. One of those results is nothing happens. Because you rolled so well, you get an extra day of travel before an event occurs. Events can cause things like extra stamina, they could be random encounters, they could be nice things. We don't know what they're gonna be.

But I need you to roll a D20 for me, please. Just straight up? Just straight D20, no modifiers, just until. Two. Oh! That smile. Okay. That DM Oh! That smile. Okay. That DM smile.

Oh! Okay. Red dragon. Did I write? I've got several of these. I didn't even care for two. No. Don't think you were gonna roll that bad.

Shit. So far, this journey has been so lovely. just so serene and delightful, everyone. It's really nice to travel with you all. Ophelia Daisy. Oh, just us three? Based on the three things you described me

that you would be doing during the journey, I place to all as lookouts. Oh shit, sorry guys. I need all three of you to make perception checks. I was looking out our carnery. Nope. Okay, perception. 10 again. at our carnery. Nope. Okay, perception. 10 again.

10 is not a... Oh. This region, 10 is not a success. 12, if I'm driving, roll three a minute. You basically think you specifically were looking after the animals, which is a quarter-mars. I've already rolled. Oh.

I could have used a fate, but I've already rolled, unfortunately. I get a 13. Just a success. Really? Because of the region you are in. I perceived, I'm gonna rotate my entire character. If you were in difficult terrain,

that would have been a failure, but because you're in like open grass, it is a success. Oh, I did it! Well, you know what, Tom? I'm gonna give you the benefit then of this. Of having to ward everyone. To roll 2d6 for me.

2d6. Let's see what you get. What's the structure? I think this might be... Drive. Do I want high or low though? We don't know yet. You could've want one in the middle, right?

I want low, I think I want low. I rolled extremely high, 11. The second highest result I could get. That's how many enemies you have. Oh shit. Right, it might be 11 red dragons. We might have to do this one with no map. Great.

That's all right, it's not combat, right? No, it's fine, just chill. Yeah. You don't need a map for role play. How many stories? This combat. Yeah, roll that magic eight ball. Sanctius. Bet a lot on Tell You Now. As you are stories? This combat. Yeah, roll that magic eight. Zanthias.

Set a lot and tell you now. As you are all traveling along, everyone going about their business, you can decide why it is that Zanthias spots this, but. Because I've got Crownsteel. As you are traveling, you notice something, a kind of movement just off, you're off the road at this point,

you are following the river but there is no road, you are out in just wild grasslands. And there is, you know, there is a shore to the river but then as you get further in, you know, you get copses of trees here and there, little scattered little moments and things like that. But it's actually, what you spot is a small ruined now, probably very old, but it looks like maybe it was once

like a little shack or like a fisherman's hut or maybe like a little farm cottage or something like that. The area around it is all thick with wild grasses, heavy, heavy, thick, tall reeds and grasses all around it. And it is a sickening, sort of crunching sound that you hear, and you see the shadows just inside this ruin ever so slightly shift,

and you see that there is something big in there. Now, because you are not ahead of the party, you basically prevent you guys being surprised as something in those ruins becomes aware and comes running out. You see this malformed massive creature, maybe like nine feet tall, this malformed massive creature, maybe like nine feet tall,

green, mottled, dark olive green skin. Its arms are so long, they're like dragging along the floor. Its face is distorted and its jaw is almost distended. Its lower jaw hanging out far beyond where its upper jaw meets, and these huge tusk-like teeth, this thick scraggle of gray and red hair trailing all the way down its back,

growing out of its back, joining into its back hair. It wears filthy rags, but it leaves very little to the imagination. As this creature just comes barreling out towards Rodri and the group of you sensing food or something, and then behind it, Oh God. Come, they look like hands

that have grown little tiny legs and faces and teeth, but they look like the creatures own limbs. There's one's an arm to our legs, and one just looks like an ear that then has grown a sort of half body out of it. What? What the hell? As these creatures come pummeling towards you.

Just three days out of Ashen's Rest. Well, somebody rolled the worst possible result on the events table, so. Wow. Wait, is it two or two? That was old criss-trop over there, the two, one and two. And then I also rolled, was high bad for that particular? That was, there was no, high and low were both equally,

is the random encounter table, so. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. Which I don't often do, but I've taken a little, I'm like, oh, I'm going to enjoy a little random encounter table now and then. Why not? Why not? It's kinda happening.

And for the benefits of, because your characters don't know this, but for the audience's benefit, and because I am using the wonderful Flee Mortals from MCDM, so you like that stuff. Okay. The creature that is charging towards you, actually no, I'm not going to tell you,

because I don't want to give you any meta-message. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. I mean, for me and Daisy being from this area, is this like, is there any chance? This thing is some sort of vault spawn, you have no idea. Okay. I like to imagine that I'm sort of...

I think because it's quite open terrain, we're going to go without a map here. Okay. This, basically, all you have, this thing is right in front of you. I'm gonna tell you now, you can try and run from this thing, it looks quicker than Rodri. It moves a lot, it's moving about 40 feet around.

Okay. Rodri can go at 30 feet around. Yeah. Right? There is a river to your sort of like, left, right hand side. There is just open thick grassland to the right and then you have this ruined cottage

that the creature is running out of towards you. So it's gonna be a pretty flat open field. There's like, I'm gonna say, 40 feet, like this thing is gonna get to you in like around. Like you got within like, you saw the shadows moving in this building and then you were managed to be like, something and then this thing burst out. I like to imagine that the reason I spotted it over

necessarily anyone else is like, I saw this sort of ruined building and for some reason that just spoke to Xanthius where he was almost like, I wonder what, who lived in this place? Like what was their life like? I wonder if they've moved on and lived half the life. Oh God, what is that? Something out there.

By the Scions. The body of this thing, like, oh okay, yep, more death. It's just like another depressing thought for Xanthias. Like, this thing running towards us now. And all of its gross little underlings. Ugh. That's pretty grim. So, let's do an issue with Daisy. Hello. Hello. Ugh. That's pretty grim. So, let's do an initiative. Daisy.

Hello. Hello. 21. 21 for Daisy. Xanthias. That is an eight. Gruffith. 20.

Rowan. Dirty. Seven. Anophilia. 19. 19. Percival is present, so I'm actually gonna need you to roll initiative for Percival because there is a chance he may get hit and stuff, so...

Do you need a Rodri? I will need a Rodri as well, actually. Out of interest, in the time that we've been travelling, can Percy drive the wagon? If he was instructed to by his mistress, he could drive the wagon. Okay, that's good to know. Percy got A, is that a one or a seven? It's a seven, isn't it?

It's a seven. Wait, oh that bit, that's a seven. That's a seven. Seven total? Yeah. All right, and then Rogerie. Two. Two, perfect, that makes perfect sense.

Yeah, poor little Rogerie, this does not sense something is coming. Yeah, so Daisy, you are... Why is that always freaking me? Because you've got high decks, man. You're a bread. You're gonna have to put the paintbrush down. which actually just does not sense something is coming. Yeah, so Daisy, you are, because you've got high dex, man. You're a great player. You're going to have to put the paintbrush down. But I was roll well for all of that.

Do you have advantage on it as well? No. Oh, okay. I was ailer. So, Daisy, you are first to act. I believe that we currently have Daisy and Gruff are on the wagon, so that would mean that Xanthias, Rowan, Ophelia and Percival are all off beside the wagon.

Okay, I will try and keep a loose map, but it's gonna be like, you're just gonna have to theater of the mind it. I mean, out of interest, we're running from this, right? We can't, you said the race is too fast. I know, but Rodri is slow. We don't want Rodri anywhere near this thing,

at the very least. Well, we could steer Rodri away, yeah. I think Rodri has a choice in it right now. I think Rodri, to keep going and to steer away. I'm going to also stay away from it, but I will throw a blade in its general face. Okay. Hopefully. Hopefully.

That's a natural 20. Nice. Okay, we're not running from this. All right? I don't have sneak attack right now. So, no, it's true. But a critical hit, the blade, and you're going for the big creature at the front, right?

The blade sinks into this thing. Nice. Okay, so it's six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Oh, that's cocked. 12 points of damage. What type of damage? Radiant, right? 12 points of radiant damage.

You watch as the blade sinks into this creature. No! No! No! And it just seems to get angry as the blade sinks in and vanishes, it like scrabbles at it. Go ahead. Bonus action.

That's only, that's a two on the dice, so it's not probably gonna hit. Two total? Nine. Nine, it does not hit, no, this thing, I don't think, it is quite quick, not super fast, but enough that it kind of dodges down to the side, more wary of its prey, hoping, you know,

perhaps it thought you were just simple merchants or travelers or something, not expecting to be hurt in this way. So we keep going, Rodri. Anything else on your turn, Daisy? No, I think, is it, does Rodri only move on his turn, Daisy? Is it action, bonus action? No, I think, is it... Does Rodri only move on his turn, or can I move? It would be, currently Gruff has the reins. Gruff can make Rodri move,

so Gruff is currently in charge of Rodri. Then that is everything for me. All right, Gruff. What is it, is it an action or bonus action to make him move? I would say it would be a bonus, a lot of other class abilities, like when you have animal companions, it's on, in your turn, it's a bonus action to make him move? I would say it would be a bonus. A lot of other class abilities, like when you have animal companions,

it's on your turn as a bonus action, you can give him another command. He can also on his turn just move, but it will basically be my decision what he does. If you want to make him specifically go somewhere, you have to give him an order. So I guess bonus action, I would like him to move. Yep. Away.

Okay, so you'll start turning. Whereabouts do you? There's the river on one side, so the only place you can go is into the thick grass, basically. Yeah, if that's the only way to go, that's a way. He will move. Do you want him to just move, or do you want him to try and take the dash action?

Yeah, let's have him dash. Little boy. Okay. So he will get 60 feet away from his current position. And that's my bonus action. Yeah, that's your bonus action. So I guess. So keep in mind, you and Daisy are on Rodri,

all the others are not. So Wagon plus Rodri and Daisy and Gruff are now far to the north. Just trying to protect Rodri. Yeah. And while he starts moving, can I give a wave of my staff, kind of actually almost pointing it at the river

and then waving it across, and then rising up from the river is a giant tidal wave. Okay, what? That crashes down. Yeah, can you just give me the full... So the range is 120 foot. Yeah, that's where you can start. Yeah, and then the area can be up to 30 foot long

and 10 foot wide and up to 10 foot tall. And each creature in that area must make a deck saving throw. So I'm trying to get the creature in every... I'm going to say it just barely hits it because it's right close to the edge of the river because 30 feet's not that far, but I'm going to say a deck saving throw. So I'm trying to get the creature in every... I'm gonna say it just barely hits it, because it's right close to the edge of the river, because 30 feet's not that far, but I'm gonna say it does catch it.

It doesn't need to come from the river, I'm just thematically thinking. Oh, that's true. You can do it from a point. Yeah, so that gives you the... Flavor. For Flavor. For Flavor, absolutely.

In that case, you can hit all of it, all of the creatures, so the little weird limb creatures, they're like cut off hands and legs and body parts that have sprouted faces and other arms and legs. They're bigger than normal. They are, they're like the size of like a gnome. They're like, you know, like they've grown body parts of their own.

It's like this big creature in the middle has had its arm chopped off, and then that arm has then grown its own arms and legs and a face and ears and teeth. But he has also regrown that arm. Yeah, yeah. I kind of love them. Yeah, they're gross, but yeah. I love them.

So I'm making dexterity saving throws. I feel like if I had children, that would be my children. Dex 15. Dex 15. Dex 15. The big one passes. The little one passes. I didn't hear any of that. You wanna say that again, Chris Trott?

While I'm paying attention to you? Three of the little limb creatures fail. The other two succeed. So, on a fail, a creature takes 48 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone. On a successful, it is half 48 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone. On a successful, it is half damage, isn't knocked prone, water splooshes. So I rolled an eight, an eight, a six, and a seven.

Holy shit. You got a fucking good roll. That's a big roll. Jesus. Sorry, eight, eight, seven, and a six. Eight, eight, seven, six. 16, 23, 29 damage. That's good. So half of that would be...

Still good. 14, because you round down. So 14. Nice. So you watch as all four of the little limb creatures, even the one that succeeded, because it takes half damage, they were minions, they get obliterated, so crushed,

they just squish to the ground, are like bowled over, or just break apart, you know, they just seem to just fall apart instantly. The big creature is not knocked prone, it kind of stumbles back like, whack, throw, lie, whack. Okay, yeah. Thank you for the extra. I think we've established the dialogue.

I think he said, wet, don't lie. Right. I thought you said don't like. That is, anything else on your turn? That is me. Alrighty. Wet, don't like. So, you guys are, the wagon is basically 60 foot away

from the creature now. But it leaves Xanthias, Rowan, and Ophelia back where the wagon was. And the creature sees the three of you, and that's far away, oh, but there's three tasty things there. Yeah, that's why I wanted it anyway, so. It is gonna charge, sorry, I need to check. So it's actually Ophelia next.

Okay, Ophelia would like to rage as a bonus action. Okay. And then I will, as an action, cast Armor of Agathys. Ooh. Okay. Ooh. Surround yourself in icy frost. What level do you cast your spells at? Just the level one. Just level one.

So five, 10 HP. Yep. Nice. Nice. What about Berien as well? Yeah, and just to make it once again clear, I don't care if she rages and casts spells. I really don't care. So rages and casts spells. I really don't care.

So it's fine. Yeah. And then yeah, I'll just charge at this creature and try to intercept it. So you're gonna try and intercept it first off. Yep. What's your movement speed? 30 feet.

Okay, it was 40 feet away, so you're about 10 feet short currently. Cool, no problemo. I'll just be there ready for it. Yep, sure. Anything else on your turn, Ophelia? No, that's good, thank you. Great, this thing is like, dinner's coming to me.

It steps up to Ophelia. How convenient. It is going to, so Ophelia, it is going to try and bite you with its huge, you know, deformed, mouth-formed jaws. And then it's gonna claw you twice. Oh. So, bite. Oh, maybe lucky, 13.

Doesn't hit. All right, the bite you managed to dodge out of the way as the bite goes wide. The first claw though is a 25. Yeah, it hits. You take five damage. Yes, I take five points of damage. Frost damage, ice damage.

Cold damage, yeah. You, on the other hand, take eight slashing damage. Frost damage? Ice damage? Cold damage, yeah. You, on the other hand, take eight slashing damage. Slashing, okie dokie. And then it's gonna hit you with its second claw. That was very cocked. That is gonna be 24 to hit. That is only five points of slashing damage. Alrighty.

Yep, and that's what it does. It just kind of bites into you. Right, ra! Ungrateful! All right. Yep. That is its turn. Then we go to, they're all dead. Xanthius.

Oh my gosh, he just ran in. I'm gonna chase after Ophelia, who just Leroy Jenkins' way her way into the fray there. Classic Ophelia. How much movement did you have, sorry, Ophelia? Three. Three. Okay, so I can basically catch up to you.

I would like to, if possible, move in such a way, I want to do an Earth Tremor, which is a 10 foot range, will hit every creature, but I don't want to hit any of yours. Yeah, you just target it behind the creature. I think it comes from me as a thing. Oh, then yeah, you could stand like to the north of it basically.

Could it, yeah, if I'm able to... Yep, I'd say you can angle it. ...position myself that way. In that case, I'd like it to make a Dexterity saving throw, please. That's an 11. It fails, in which case, it will take 1d6

of bludgeoning damage. Two. But it is knocked prone. The ground in that area is, if it's loose earth or stone, which I believe it is, will become difficult to rain. It goes like, oh, and it slams to the ground, confused as to why it lost its footing suddenly. Okay, and I will call it that.

There's an action to do, so happy to end the turn. Do that there. Leave it prone for at least a turn. All right, Rowan then Percival. Rowan is going to move towards everybody else. Yep, so you basically move up next to Ophelia basically. I'm still 10 feet away from it, right? No, because it moved up to engage Ophelia. I won't go fully next to Ophelia, basically. I'm still 10 feet away from it, right? No, because it moved up to engage Ophelia.

I won't go fully close to Ophelia. So just behind Ophelia? Just behind, and I'm going to whip out Sostenuto and do my custom spell, which is just Vicious Mockery, but I call it Vicious Tone. Okay, yeah, nice. So it sends a piercing psychic damage tone that resonates in the brain. What was the call that sent for, is it? Wisdom, nice. So it sends a piercing psychic damage tone that resonates in the brain.

What was the call that center is it? Wisdom, 15. Zero. Oh wow. Oh. My head. Get out of my head, Charles. My name's not Charles.

Does it have a head? This thing does, yeah. This is the big one. Five psychic damage. Five psychic damage. Is it cantrip? Yeah, you watch as it clutches its head. It's not like bashing its head, like... Make it stop!

It also has a disadvantage on something, right? It has Disadvantage on its next attack roll. Okay, nice. End of its next turn. Okay. Nice. Because Vicious Mercury, it's fun to literally... What would Percival do? Okay, nice. End of its next turn. Okay, nice. Because Vicious Mercury, it's fun to literally never. What would Percival do?

Percival, is he on the wagon or is he off the wagon? It's up to you, he could have been in the back of the wagon or he could have been walking alongside you. He's with us and he's like, what's happening? It depends on what, the last command he was given, basically. The person would have been with me. Okay, so he's like off the sidewagon, so he's like stood back where you were.

But yeah, I'll command him to stay away. Okay, yep, he just, he'll move, he's already quite far away from the creature, so he just stays where he is. Okay. And he doesn't move any closer. Cool. All right, anything else?

No, that's all good with me. All right, Rodri has already moved on your turn, Gruff, so does nothing, basically. just already taking his turn. Alrighty, we then go to the top of the round, which is Daisy. So we've moved 60 feet. Yes. But we're still, but then they've moved,

so we're still within 60 feet. You're within 60 feet, yeah. They were moving horizontally, you've moved vertically north. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're just in range, and you do have the wagon between you and it, so I'm gonna give it a tiny bit of call though.

Well, can I move? If you want to, yeah, you can jump off. I'll move so that I'm on the ground, and I will... I did also prone it though. Oh, that's true, so yeah, you'd have advantage. Oh no, ranged attacks. Yeah, disadvantage. So yeah, disadvantage.

No, but I'm, why? Because it's prone. Prone creatures, you have disadvantage to no, ranged attacks. Yeah. Disadvantage. So yeah, disadvantage. No, but why? Because I'm... Because it's prone. Prone creatures you have disadvantage to attack with ranged attacks. I'm not gonna watch it. Sorry, I forgot about that.

Yeah. Good from LA. That's true. Well, I probably won't hit it then, so... Total? 12. 12 is not enough. Unfortunately, your dagger would have hit the creature,

but just as it's about to is when the Earth Tremor causes it to stumble and slam into the ground. Fuck off. You run closer. I pat Rodri and go, it's okay, it's okay, it's fine. Yeah, Rodri by the way is just like, well okay, doesn't seem quite anything. You're guiding him, he's not being attacked.

If he gets attacked then I'm gonna make checks to see if he panics. Go this way. Okay, I just can't see the danger right now. Stop blinders on. In that case, Gruffeth. That would've been really good, by the way. Rotary's fine.

Uh, am I allowed to cast Moonbeam in a way that it doesn't fucking blast Ophelia? It's just like on the edge. Like she's not. You can target it just behind the creature at the moment, yes. Okay. Don't walk into the Moon the moment, yes. Okay. Don't walk into the movement this time.

Right, in which case, Gareth will point his staff, Saren will fly out, and a moonbeam will come crashing down on this weird little freak. Okay, fails. Sweet. Well, he's prone as well, so.

Yep. That should be like more damage. Oh my god! You were rolling like a. I rolled two tens, hell yeah. That's insane damage, even in the Tiger Wave. Yeah, I said level two by the way, so yeah. 20.

So Elixir's 2DZem. Yeah. Fantastic. You watch as the creature, its wounds are badly burnt at this point, like you can see that the creature is taking these heavy blasts. But the three of you who are around it,

this thing is so unnaturally tough. And even some of those wounds, you can see are knitting back together. Oh. Right. It is, yeah, it does not look like this thing is gonna go down very easily. But the moonbeam surges from the sky, pummels down onto the creature itself.

Anything else on your turn, Gruff? I guess I'd encourage Rodri to keep moving. Like maybe not a dash, but like a... So another 30 feet? Yeah, yeah. You are now 90 feet away. Yeah. Alright, end of turn.

End of my turn. Ophelia. Ophelia will plunge Veracity into this creature. You have advantage on all these attacks because it is prone. Melee. Oh, buckaroo. Oh my goodness.

15. Does just hit. Oh, thank God. So that's a seven on D8, nine, 10, 11. So that's seven, eight, nine, 10. 11 damage. 11 point damage. What kind of damage is Veracity? Veracity is piercing damage. Piercing damage. 11 point damage. What kind of damage is veracity?

Veracity is piercing damage. Piercing damage. You plunge the blade in, and as you pull it free, the blood has this strange green, Icarus tinge to it. And as it's on your blade, the blood itself is like twisting and mutating. And is that like a tiny hand? That's trying to cut out the blood itself is like twisting and mutating.

And is that like a tiny hand? That's trying to pull out the blood? And as you flick it away, it just breaks the hand apart. I hate that, I hate that. I love this. Don't drink that. Oh, I won't. You just pulled it with the river with this shit.

Disgusting. What was it? Anything else on your table? I think that is... I think... I'll move back a little bit while it's prone, actually. It does still get an Opportunity Attack. It just has Disadvantage. Let's do it.

I'll move like 15 feet back. It has Disadvantage anyway. It can fight you. It has double Disadvantage. Mega Disadvantage. It rolls into one automatically. It does not. That's still only going to mean 11, though.

It doesn't hit. Pretty bad. So's still only going to be an 11 though. Doesn't hit. So yeah, it manages to like, as you, it tries to chomp you manage to get away. That does leave now Xanthias, the only one within range. Sweet boy. That's cool. On its turn. Xanny. Yes.

It's going to stand up. Yes. I forgot it takes its turn first. Uh, ooh. It sees something special in me. It is going to. Kindred Spirit. So it is gonna use its Crash Through ability.

It moves up to its speed in a straight line. It can enter the spaces of large or smaller creatures during this movement, forcing those creatures to make strength saving throws, please. So Rowan, Ophelia, and Xanthius, it is gonna burst through you to get to the other side of Ophelia and Rowan. So it like charges through the group of you.

Because it is a large creature, so it's gonna move through all of you. 20. Ooh. This is a Strength saving throw, so no advantage, because it's not Danger Sense. She's raging, though. Do you get it on Strength saving throws?

I think it's only ability checks you get Rage Bonus. Let me dodge. I'm pretty sure it's only on ability checks. Strength check and saving throws. Oh, there you go. Not correct. Corrected, so you do get advantage. Okay.

What do we get, Xan? Three, fail. Success. Nice. 18. 18, success. You are gonna take half damage. Xanthias, you take full damage and you are knocked prone.

Oh, revenge. Revenge. Rwengar. Triple natural. It is, yeah. Ooh. So that would be 19 damage to Xanthias. Oh, you, that's a lot.

Bludgeoning. Yep. And so that would be 89 points of damage to Ophelia and Rowan. Hard for me. It doesn't move in through any objects, so it stops there. And then it's gonna basically turn around,

that's his full action actually, sorry. So it does that, it just bursts through the group of you and is now on the other side of Rowan and Ophelia. Yeah, okay. It's burst through the group of you. And you're not prone. Okay, cool. Yeah. No.

Sweet. No. In fact, if it's his full turn, I'm actually gonna have it, it's gonna go diagonally, so it's gonna get 40 feet closer towards the wagon. It's gonna start shooting out the wagon. Oh, it is trying to. Yeah.

It's gonna see a tasty meal. You guys keep hurting it. It doesn't like that. So it's going to be like, out of my way! It charges through you and then it starts just running after the wagon. So it's going to move 40 feet away from the three of you.

It heard hot dog. Yeah. Alrighty. That brings us to, it was its turn. You know you're in trouble when re-shaking your head when you're joking. Xantheus.

Hi, I will spend half my movement to stand up, obviously. If this nerd is trying to rush towards the wagon, I've seen how it handles wisdom saving throws. I'm gonna hold person. Is it a humanoid, actually? Speaking of. Hold person. Wait, do you curse the spell? What is a humanoid actually, speaking of. Hold person. Do you curse the spell?

What is a humanoid, if not a thing with arms and legs? A humanoid is an elf, a dwarf, a human, a dragonborn, a hobgoblin, a goblin. Right. An orc. This is probably a monstrosity. It's not a creature, yeah. Probably a monstrosity.

Dwarf. It's not called hold monstrosity, is it? No. Hey, does 2024 have additional rules about this? Because hold person sucks dick. Maybe it will. I've seen like hold creature or something. It does take a bit. Hold monster exists.

I know there is a hold monster and hold creature, but it's like I don't know what it applies to. Yeah, but hold person's kind of... Whatever. It's great against normal human enemies. I'm gonna do Scorching Rain. You guys have fought almost entirely humanoid enemies except demons. I've had you've fought like gnolls,

you've fought like bandits and cultists. Historically, whenever we've tried to use hold person as a spell, it's never been in this. No, no, I've definitely used it before. It's just, I don't know what humanoid is. Yeah, maybe it's just. Literally what I just said. Like elves and orcs and gnolls and opalins. Not this guy.

I'm gonna assume not this guy. Fine, I'm gonna use, I wanted to try to stem the healing anyway with some cleansing fire. So I'm gonna do El Clasico, a Scorching Ray on this guy to see if this has any additional effect on him, because I don't think we tried fire yet. Okay. But that is two, sorry, three,

bolts of fire. The first is a 24. Hits. Then a 25. Hits. Then a 13. The 13 misses, but the first two hit. Right, 4d6 of fire damage.

That is five, 10, 15 fire damage. Unenhanced, I feel like I should say. Does fire melt that weird thing? You watch this creature does not like the fire. It's kind of like, it's all, all of its red and black hair is beginning to burn. It's like putting itself out with its giant claws. It does not like it.

It's like, bad! Bad, go away! Sorry. And that is my turn. That's your turn. My turn. All right. Rowan.

Rowan, seeing the fire, causing a bit of a problem for old slack jaw weirdo. Yep. He's going to strum really hard with everyone watching. End of turn. He's gonna cast Silent Image in front of this creature as he's going towards Roderick. It's going to be a 15 foot cube of fire.

Okay. Ooh. Yep. So 15 foot cube right in front of it, basically. And he's pretty fast. It can get around it, but it would obviously take extra movement to go around it. And make it look violent.

It looked like this creature staggers back. Like it's just like, ah, ah, ah, and it just turns back and it looks at the three of you. It just looks at the three of you immediately. Like it's lost any interest in pursuing anything beyond that fire, and now it's gonna look towards you. Excellent.

Bonus action. Yes. Bardic inspiration. Xanthias. Yes, Rowan? I'm proud of you, buddy. Well, thank you. You're gonna do so well.

I will, I am, I will. Bardic inspiration. Does Percival am, I will. Blah, blah, blah. Barley, Barley can speak. Does Percival, Rogerie's already had a 10, because you moved him on your 10, Kim. So anything for Percival, if not, we jump straight back to break, actually. I'll just keep Percival out of the way for now. All right, we'll just keep him out of the way.

So with that, we see this creature having become frightened by the sudden sort of column, this cube of flame in front of it, it kind of reels back its enormous clawed hand. No! And it just turns around. You bring fire. Die!

And that's where we're gonna take a break. But between me and it is Ophelia and Rowan, right? So, no. Nope, it's you there, Ophelia and Rowan, right? So. No. It's you there, Ophelia and Rowan. That's when it charged through all of us. It moved through you, they moved off slightly and then it was you right next to it, so yeah.

You are currently, you're only five feet distance, like it's like 10 feet between you and Ophelia and Rowan, but yeah, you are currently separated. It's okay, we'll be dead by next turn. Maybe. Definitely. We will see y'all after our little quick break. Nice, see you in part two.

Bye. See you in part two. Bye. Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye. Bye. Bye. Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. One in eight Canadian men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Black men have almost double the risk. Know your risk. Visit the Canadian Cancer Society website at cancer.ca forward slash know your risk to learn more.

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